Washington -- Consider this correspondence, recently received from our South Carolina bureau, a bit of a tide-you-over until I get back out there to the Verizon Center this afternoon for more NCAA Tournament hoo-ha.

Who knows? This Orange train may not stop until it gets to Atlanta.

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It’s only a slight exaggeration to say college basketball has become unwatchable. I blame the usual suspects:

Media timeouts. I love how announcers treat them like they were included in James Naismith’s original list of basketball rules. (One suggestion: Keep the four media timeouts per half, but limit each coach to three.)

Cheap and inconsistent fouls. Ever since teams decided it was okay to attack a defense with the dribble there has been an increase in contact, most of it incidental. In the old days, when dribbling was considered a poor way to attack a defense, it was recognized that the offensive player initiated most of the contact. Result: Offensive foul. Didn’t matter if the defensive player was moving at the time.

Today officials mentally flip coins to decide who to blame for the contact. Meanwhile, basketball players obviously are taking acting lessons. (Well, it worked for punters.)

Two sets of rules. One set covers the first 37 minutes or so. That’s when an intentional foul is an intentional foul. During the last three minutes, losing teams are given license to foul. (Any time a player has to reach out and grab an opponent from behind should automatically be whistled for an intentional foul.)

Only basketball allows participants to control the game by deliberately breaking the rules. Result: Another foul-shooting contest. Now isn’t that exciting.

Possible solutions:

1. Call it like it is -- an intentional foul.2. Continue to call ’em like they’re doing, but take 10 seconds (or more) off the clock.3. Make each foul committed beyond the three-point range a three-shot foul.4. Allow teams to waive fouls and retain possession of the ball.

Finally (though one could go on and on), consider eliminating the three-point shot. Fans, broadcasters and especially public-address announcers love it, but I think it has had a negative effect on the game. Among other things, it led to replays when (presumably) grown men gather around a television screen to determine whether a player’s foot was perhaps one-sixteenth of an inch closer to the basket than it should have been. That, more than anything, tells you how idiotic it can be to award three points for a basket.

-- Jack Major
Bluffton, S.C.

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Here is the usual weekly “schedule of events” in Bud Poliquin’s corner of syracuse.com:

MONDAY -- By 8 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: “How’d I Do?” By 6 p.m.: “Ask Me Anything” by submitting questions (to which I’ll give answers) on any sports-related topic to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include your name and the identity of your hometown.)

TUESDAY -- By 8 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: “Coach’s Corner,” wherein readers can submit questions to any coach at any level in Central New York (and answers will be posted) to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include name and hometown.) By 6 p.m.: “The Video Store.”

WEDNESDAY -- By 8 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: “The List.” By 6 p.m.: “E-Mail Of The Week,” wherein readers can submit legitimate essays/open letters/observations for purposes of posting to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include name and hometown.)